Origins
by JiraiyaTheGallant
Summary: The last thing Naruto remembered was a pair of ringed eyes. He didn't expect to be thrown over 50 years into the past, finding himself belonging to a family that he didn't know. His identity was shifting, but his goal remained the same: save the world.
1. Chapter 1

**Origins**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

**Summary:** The last thing Naruto remembered was a pair of ringed eyes. He didn't expect to be thrown over 50 years into the past, finding himself belonging to a family that he didn't know. There is only one variable that can fix the future: Uchiha Naruto.

**A/N: This story is an idea I've been wanting to write down for some time. I hope I can continue it, and I hope you guys enjoy it. I don't know if this idea is fully original or not, I haven't seen any of Naruto during the beginning of the First Shinobi War.**

**Ch1: Memories**

* * *

Naruto could recall pain, searing pain. Like every inch of his body was slowly being burnt with fire, pickling him with the sensations of millions of deadly needles.

Madara, he was fighting Uchiha Madara with the entirety of the shinobi alliance. His thoughts were fuzzy, he couldn't feel through the pain. Floating through the void, utterly weightless, the Uzumaki had no idea what had happened. Sakura, Saskue, his friends, all were probably dead. '_Am I dead too?' _he asked himself, struggling to see color.

Blackness.

The pain numbed, subsiding to a vague memory of the fire coursing through his body. Now, he felt cold, lifeless, purposeless. His mind was no less jumbled, struggling to place together a cohesive timeline. Focus was impossible, there was only fear. Fear and confusion.

He tried to remember, he really did. Was it the enormous katon jutsu that wiped them out? No, he and Kurama had survived that. It was the meteor, _Tengai Shinsei, _that absolutely crushed them. Though, even with those broken bones, he still had to fight.

But Kurama, he told the boy about some escape. Some way to fix this. He couldn't remember properly, it was all too fast, too confusing.

The void was swallowing him; he was falling through the impossible darkness. '_Wait,'_ he paused in his thoughts, _'I'm falling?'_ It was the first sensation he felt since the pain numbed.

Suddenly, a light swallowed the darkness, reaching out and grabbing him in its tendrils.

With a small thud, he landed face first in the dirt. _Dirt? _He could see the ground, the stems of grass poking out from trodden earth. His body felt numb, almost distant to him as he tried to align the feelings with his perception. Clutching a fistfull of dirt, he found his joints sore. With great effort, he pushed himself onto his knees, his body still not responding exactly with his intentions.

He was on an old dirt path, he saw that. Trees stretched around the path, reminding him of the forest near the Uchiha compound. It was nigh impossible for him to know where exactly he was, there were no landmarks he knew. Added to that, there were no large craters from meteor impacts or singed trees from powerful katon jutsu. Even evidence of the fight with the Juubi was nonexistent. Another thought occurred to him: He was completely and utterly alone.

"Kurama?" he called softly, frowning immediately afterwards. His voice was very high pitched, almost like when he was a kid. People may call Naruto below average in intelligence, more like dumb, but he still knew when something was unusual.

He didn't have to speak, only think, but the words were just to break the silence permeating his mind. There was no answer, an unexpected thing for Naruto. Of recent, the Kyuubi was always there, encouraging him to never give up, helping him perform amazing feats. From understanding the boy's emotions to helping separate the Juubi, the fox was right there beside him. And when all else failed, Kurama could always tell him anything about the fight that he didn't comprehend.

Right now, it was driving him insane, not knowing what happened.

"Hello!?" He shouted, standing up with great effort. He spun around, looking for any detail, anything to say _something_. The sun shown in the sky, it was midday. The last time he saw the sun, it was still night, so how was it suddenly noon?

Walking was no easy chore, but he had to follow the path. There was a small road, if it was actually large enough to be described as so, and every road had to go somewhere. He stumbled at first, his strides were much smaller. He felt shorter as a whole, as if the world was far bigger than it should be. Looking down on his body, he seemed to be far younger.

The weirdest part so far, his clothes were all different. Why would that be? It clearly wasn't that stupid genjutsu Madara had tried to finish, the Juubi was split up. There was just no way.

Then how did he explain the navy blue, high collared tee-shirt and white bandages on his right leg? He even had black shorts, and he never wore shorts. It was always that orange and black jumpsuit.

His hitai-ate! He couldn't feel the string tied around the back of his head, so he flung his undersized hand up to his forehead. The cold metal wasn't there. Panick hardly described the feeling he felt at the loss of one of his most prized mementos. Iruka-sensei had given it to him, and now he didn't know if the man was alive or dead. Hell, he still didn't know if he, himself, was alive or dead.

For a few minutes, he followed the road going one direction. Slowly, the sights became more familiar. A training grounds, must have been 20something if he recalled correctly. There were kunai stuck in it, making him smirk a bit. '_Is the war over? People wouldn't be training if we were still fighting Madara._' Huh, did he just reason that out? How unusual.

Finally, he came upon houses. There were a huge group of them, maybe forty, each very wide yet only one story. He could also see a street covered with stands and shops, something not unusual in Konoha. _'The Uchiha clan compound,'_ he immediately recognized. The thought struck him, he never saw the inside of the compound, much less from the angle of the forest. How had he known which compound it was. Yet, somewhere deep inside, he felt like he belonged there.

'_Kurama, a little help here...'_ No answer. _'Damn fox! You're just jealous of my amazingness.'_ Nothing. Normally, that would have generated a response, a grunt at least. Proof that the beast was still there, but Naruto had none. He seriously could have used help from the Bijuu right now. He was lost, seemingly shrunk down, probably in some form of delusion. There had to be an answer. There _had _to be!

He began wandering between the houses, as he looked up towards the sun, questioning if it was real. He saw one Uchiha, characterized by the onyx eyes and raven black hair, who gave him a raised eyebrow as he passed. Naruto wondered if he should talk to the man, but he didn't want to deal with one of those arrogant bastards.

_'Wait, what the hell._' There was a living Uchiha other than Madara or Sasuke. That couldn't possibly be right, could it. This only deepened the mystery in Naruto's mind.

As he continued his journey, he saw more and more Uchiha. A few were walking back towards there house, one was even likely going on a mission with a large backpack on his back. This was an odd sight for the confused boy, so many people of any clan in one place. Though the compound should have felt alien to him, he was beginning to remember the place. He could almost classify it as _familiar_, and his path was guided by some instinct in the back of his head.

The path extended into the heart of the compound, where it turned into a well worn, solid path that every Uchiha knew to be the main route around the compound and to the market district of Konoha. He took a left on the path, searching for some house that he _knew_ he should go to. The _why _was almost completely lost to him by now, he was just doing whatever came to him.

Finally, he came upon the house he was looking for. It was much like the other clan houses, simple, one floor, and a fancy black roof.

Tentatively, he walked up to the door, where the Uchiha fan, red and white, was proudly flaunted. Three times he knocked, his body doing this foreign action as his mid was in a trance.

The door opened.

A man, no a teen, stood with a confused look of his own. That face for an Uchiha, however, resembled more of a frown, indicated by a slight twitch of the side of the lips. _'When did I get so good at reading expressions?'_ Naruto wondered.

This young man, Naruto knew with unusual certainty that he was seventeen. Despite the pristine hitai-ate proudly displayed on his forehead, he seemed like he just got up. His jet black hair was messy, insane at best, spiking randomly and falling over his hitai-ate. He appeared to have been getting ready for training, a skin tight black suit covered his upper body, greyish armor on his legs, and wasn't wearing anything on his feet. Naruto squinted his eyes at the man, he was just so familiar. He wanted to run up and give the man a big hug, though he couldn't explain where the impulse came from. It took a few moments for memories (were they even his?) to flood his mind. That was Kagami Uchiha.

"Naruto-kun?" He asked, surprised, concerned.

"Aniki?" Naruto replied, mirroring the man's tone. He clasped a hand over his mouth. _'What am I saying? I don't have a brother, and I certainly don't look like an Uchiha.'_

"Shouldn't you be at the academy?" He sighed.

The impulse from earlier didn't return, leaving him with no clue what to say. He was sixteen, way too old to go to the academy. "Err... I don't know. What day is it?" _'How long after the war is it,' _he wanted to ask, but he avoided mentioning it. The last thing he wanted to worry about was Madara on the loose now, especially with the plethora of questions rattling around in his skull.

Kagami was puzzled by the odd question. "April 18th. Can't you remember this stuff?"

_'The war happened in the summer, so its almost been a year. Weird, I would have thought that Konoha would look different, like it did after Nagato's attack.'_ He thought the last part as he twisted his body around and looked at a few of the larger buildings in the distance. It was a fact that two of those apartment complexes were destroyed, so why had Konoha rebuild the exact same ones? In fact, none of the landmarks looked different, the Hokage monument still had two faces.

Wait.

What!?

_'Where did Tou-san and Baa-chan go!? A-am I in some genjutsu?' _No, he eliminated that possibility earlier.

"Something's on your mind. You can tell your aniki," he squatted down to Naruto's height, which was humiliatingly short. He didn't think that he was even five feet tall, how awful.

"NO, no, nothings wrong," he shot back hurriedly. The faces, the Uchihas. There was only one conclusion that the Kyuubi jinchuuriki (where was Kurama?) could come to: He was in the past.

Utterly insane. He was a raving lunatic. But a raving lunatic with an open mind and this new, weird logic programmed in his brain. It was the only conclusion. Well, he eliminated the impossible, and what remained, however improbably, was the truth. That didn't make it easier to accept.

"You sure? You've been acting like you're out of it ever since..." he couldn't finish the sentence. Naruto noticed pain in his _bother's_ eyes, but was even more startled to find tears in his own. A few wet tears, trickling down his cheek.

Memories surfaced.

* * *

**Flashback**

* * *

_"Kaa-chan!" An eight year old boy cried, tugging on a raven-haired woman's sleeve._

_Midori had a radiant smile, an unusual quality of anyone befitting her clan or her situation. Despite her pale face, everything seemed much more vivid about her, namely her colorful personality. Hitai-ate displayed on her forehead, she wore a green flack jacket and black short sleeved undershirt, tight gloves on her hands with a steel plate in the middle to deflect kunai and swords. A tanto was sheathed on her back behind her hair, which was pulled back in a ponytail._

_The concept of war was nothing to scoff at. She had fought wars in the past, before the founding of Konoha, but now they were organized. Intense. Though less than three months old, the war had escalated to the point where each nation was worried for the safety of their newly founded villages. The frontlines were a slaughtering ground, and unfortunately, Naruto's mother was being sent to Kumogakure's frontline. That was perhaps the most dangerous of all at present. She had to tell the boys, Kagami and Naruto, that she might not be returning._

_Standing at the door, Midori turned back to Naruto, a reassuring smile on her face wiping away her haunted expression. "It's alright. I'll always be there for you, Naruto-kun. I have to leave now, but first, give your kaa-chan a hug." Her son embraced her in a quick hug, though it was the fourth one in the past ten minutes._

_She was about to leave when she heard footsteps from the hallway. Kagami walked into the living room, placing a hand on his younger brother's left shoulder. He had rushed to get ready, his grey armor on slightly sideways and his chuunin flack jacket uneven. Even his hitai-ate was sideways, and he always put it on straight. It was obvious to Midori that he had rushed to get ready the moment he heard she was leaving._

_"Don't tell him that. Don't go, please. I'll fight in your place." His resolve was hardened, he would protect the village. But he would not let his family sacrifice their lives for this, Midori wasn't even that good of a kunoichi._

_"It is my duty, Kagami-kun. Stop being foolish. I know its been hard since your dad passed away, but you are younger than me with more reasons to live. You have a full life ahead of you, and hopefully we can end this war before you get dragged into it. Besides, you can protect your brother better than I ever could." A few of her reasons went unsaid, mistakes she made in the past._

_Tears were streaming down his cheeks, yet he made not a single sound. Suddenly, he swiftly moved across the room, wrapping his mother in a hug,_

_"Good luck, Kaa-san," he said into her shoulder, backing up after a long minute._

_She nodded, words were now unimportant. With a wave, she left. The two were shocked at how sudden it all was, her team being called to fight. It was a desolate few days after that; however the brothers learnt how to put it out of their mind, waiting for her safe return in two months._

_Weeks later, they received a red enveloped letter, notification that their last direct family member was dead._

* * *

**End Flashback**

* * *

_'Is that _my _memory?'_ Naruto wondered. It felt real, it seemed real. But was it the truth? He didn't consciously remember anything else, maybe brief images of childhood, the academy, his friends.

_'My mother is Kushina Uzumaki!' _he reminded himself, quickly.

"Naruto-kun?" Kagami asked quizzically, as the boy's eyes had focused on the wall of the house while the memory flashed through his head.

"Sorry, Aniki." He focused back on his brother, immediately finding the man far more familiar than before. So, he could remember _his_ family with clarity, but what about the academy, which he apparently attended? Did he know any jutsu? Who were his friends? A bunch of questions rattled nonstop in his head.

What was worse, his future knowledge didn't even let him know _who _Kagami was. He wasn't too familiar with the Uchiha, save Itachi, Madara, and Sasuke. Sasuke, his rival, and newly reunited friend. Gone, in the blink of the eye. Now, he was many years older than his friend, stranded in an unknown era (was it truly unknown?).

There was a deep silence, they couldn't even hear the normal hustle and bustle of the compound.

"Aniki," the boy began.

"Naruto-kun."

"You're going on a mission, aren't you?"

"Yeah." At the downcast look in his brother's eyes, Naruto was hoping to learn more about Kagami, he elaborated, "I'm only going with my team to guard a convoy from the Land of Iron. Nothing big, just this cool chakra-conducting metal that we don't want Kumo to get their hands on."

"You'll be safe?"

"Don't worry," he chuckled, placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder like he always did, "I'm not going anywhere." He waited for Naruto to calm down and give him an understanding nod. "You still didn't answer my question."

"Huh?"

"Why aren't you at the academy?"

"Can't I get a day off," he sighed, making it a statement not a question. "To say goodbye to you," he added.

Kagami heaved a large sigh, taking his hand from Naruto's shoulder to fix his messy hair. Afterwards, he gave his little brother a warm embrace. "I have to go. Promise me you'll take care of yourself."

Naruto nodded.

"I'll be back before you know it!" He smirked, patting Naruto on the head. He left the boy speechless as he walked right past him, onto the road that led back to the center of the village.

Once Naruto was sure he was alone, he didn't even enter the house. He was stunned, taking everything in, trying to puzzle out his situation. Everything seemed to make more sense, but was the entire word different, or just him. In this time he shouldn't even _exist, _yet he did, and what's more, he had a background. A past, that he didn't truly live. Or did he? It befuddled him, the specifics of that memory.

"This is soooo weird," he complained, in a very Naruto-ish manner, high pitched and whiney.

One last time, he turned to see Kagami's back in the distance before entering his house and closing the door behind himself. It was dark, he was completely alone. It wasn't like he felt uncomfortable living by himself, no the house felt all too familiar. But it also felt _empty, _a concept that eluded him, never having a family to fill in the space. It was darker, almost desolate all alone, knowing that his precious brother's life was now on the line.

The couch, the kitchen, even the small red-cushioned chairs brought back a sense of familiarity. Not quite the tangible memory he felt earlier, but it was a sat down, knowing he had a few things to figure out.

Kurama was the first. He lifted his blue shirt, channeling a little chakra to his stomach. Nothing happened. No seal matrix formed, no entity pulled him into his mindscape to talk. So, if he didn't have the Kyuubi, than either his mother or someone else (was it Mito, he wondered), who had the Kyuubi. He was no good with names. At the same time, despite the logical look at it, he felt deeply troubled for loosing another companion and friend. Loss seemed to be his theme for the day so far. Loss and confusion.

The second was what year it was. From his shakey memory, it was one year since the First Shinobi War. From all of his education earlier, not much, it took no short amount of effort to elicit the information. After maybe five minutes of concentration on the red chair, he figured it was around 50 years. He just thought of that for a second. He had to go through all four shinobi wars over 50 years if he ever hoped of changing the future. Then again, hadn't he already done something? Or was this a different reality, not the past? Still, that was ridiculous that he _might_ meet himself in the future, but he'd be an old man.

Even older than Jiraiya! That made him laugh, maybe he'd be his 'Ero-sennin's' teacher in a twist of irony. It made him snicker with how hilarious that would be.

Finally, the third thing on his mind was his appearance. After all, he'd never seen a blond Uchiha before, and he felt much younger. Now that his memories were telling him that he was 9, he needed some help remembering what he actually looked like.

A mirror. Where could he find a mirror? His sluggish brain too a few moments, he wasn't the fastest of thinkers, but he figured it out. His room, of course. How could he not have thought of that first?

He walked down the hallway, taking a left into a small room with a six foot, comfy-looking bed. Part of him wanted to yawn, call it a day, and sleep off all of his questions. That way, he could take life as it came at him. No, what was he thinking. He stared danger, death even, in the face, and he never just 'called it a day.' It made him wonder how time travel should make him feel any different. It was another challenge, and the first step to solving it was his appearance.

In his bathroom, he found what he was looking for, his reflection. Yet again, Naruto was absolutely stunned by his was just so weird, to look completely different.

He had hair reminiscent to his youth, long, spiky, and nearly over his eyes, though it was longer than he remembered it to be. His hair was the same, minus one fact. Instead of the normal sunny blond, it was a dark black similar to the rest of his relatives in this world. Also, he had no whisker marks on his cheeks, probably a sign that he wasn't related to anyone who housed the Kyuubi. Then there was is eyes. Even after poking them to make sure they weren't an illusion, he still didn't believe it. They weren't the sky blue he was familiar with, but a dull, coal color. Other than those three things, it would have been impossible to differentiate him new body from his previous nine year old self.

After a sudden wave of exhaustion, the now raven-haired boy took it upon himself to lay down in his bed. With this nice relaxation, he hadn't had any since the war went on for many days before they lost, he used the time to make his conclusions about the position he was in. So, he was probably in some alternate dimension, in the past, where he already existed. He had some form of memory of those events. With that, he assumed that he was becoming a lot more rational since he came here. That was likely from his Uchiha self.

Now, at least, he could fix what went wrong.

He could kill Madara and hide his body to stop him from being revived.

He could stop Obito from becoming evil, though he had no idea how.

He could, no he would, finally achieve Ero-sennin's goals of world peace, starting now.

With a smirk, he closed his eyes. He would be the variable that changed everything.

* * *

**A/N: This chapter is probably shorter than the next ones I'll do. I had this idea running through my head, I even made a timeline up until Cannon started, and I just had to write it down.**

**Tell me what ya think, I don't care if its slightly offensive or not.**

**Btw- I'll update the Timeline as this story goes along, as Kishi really didn't have any dates or ages for this time period. The year is relative to the founding of Konoha. If something makes no sense, tell me and I can see how the actual date will impact my story. If enough people want to know more about these times, I could even write a story directly including them before Naruto arrives in this one.**

**Year Event**

**0- Konoha founded, Hashirama elected as Hokage over Madara**

**2- Academy and ninja ranking system fully established.**

**3- Kagami, Hiruzen, Danzo... ect born**

**4- Other villages begin to be established**

**7- First Kage summit is called.**

**8- Hashirama deals out Bijuu as a peace offering to other villages**

**10 (early spring)- Madara leaves village**

**10 (October 10)- Naruto born**

**11- Hiruzen, Homura, Koharu graduate (age 8). Team under Tobirama and Hashirama**

**12- Kagami, Danzo, and Torifu Akimichi graduate (age 9). Subordinates, kind of a team, under Tobirama**

**12 (later)- Hiruzen's team all receive chuunin promotions (no chuunin Exams yet)**

**13- Madara returns with the Kyuubi but is defeated (assumed dead). Mito becomes the first jinchuuriki**

**14- Kagami's team all receive chuunin promotions**

**15- Hiruzen becomes a jounin**

**16- Tobirama becomes the Nidaime Hokage. Hashirama is noticeably weakened from fight with Madara .**

**18 (early)- First Shinobi War begins**

**18 (late)- Kagami's mother dies.**

**19- Naruto arrives from the future**

**59- Cannon begins**

**The rest will be added as the story moves along, just to help you guys understand since this time period never received much mention.**

**Thanks for reading,**

**Jiraiya out**


	2. Chapter 2

**Origins**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

**A/N: Ready for another chapter! The timeline had been mostly verified, and I won't be changing it any more. Well, not much else to say this time around. Oh, the chapters are probably all going to be around 4.5k words, for consistency's sake. Not to say that there won't be a few short or long chapters here and there.**

**Ch2: Uchiha**

* * *

With a yawn, Naruto awoke, the black-haired boy stretching out his arms as he sat up. For a second, he wondered why his room was so odd before the reality of the last day hit him. He was stuck in the past with a completely new identity. And he had to go to the academy today.

Now, Naruto Uzumaki wasn't the smartest tool in the shed. He hardly thought about the future until Jiraiya exposed him to the idea of world peace. Even then, he couldn't think up any plan, that was the job of some of the geniuses that seemed all too common in the shinobi world. He was impulsive, rash, and couldn't have come to the conclusion that he was in the past. That was before.

Naruto Uchiha was now far more intelligent than he'd hoped to be. Sharp enough to think about what his future meant. He could use this opportunity to save everyone before Madara got to them. In fact, he could stop anything from ever becoming a problem. His newly found intuition told him that this should be a secret, after all it was a pretty ridiculous story. Not only that, but simply the knowledge that he was from the future could change everything so much that he wouldn't know how to stop it. _'I guess that's my fallback plan...'_

Still, the academy was a pressing issue and he had to go. _NOW._ As in, he was already running half an hour late, and any proper Uchiha was never late.

He got dressed the high collared shirt, though he still prefered orange body suits, but that'd look plain idiotic now. At least, he would have liked the black and orange one, it wasn't too obnoxious. Shaking his head, he focused his thoughts on the _here _and _now. _

If he had half the memory he thought he did, the academy was going to be a lot less boring than he remembered.

The walk from the Uchiha compound to the academy was far longer than he'd have liked, especially since he wasn't in the company of his brother. When considering the other compounds in Konoha, the Uchiha's was obscenely far away from the Hokage's tower. Unknown to Naruto, this was due to Tobirama's lack of trust in them added with the new civilians' distaste of the clan's history. Ya, the Uchiha may well have drawn the short end of the stick, especially since Madara was about to be Hokage. They all knew how that ordeal turned out, Madara being supposedly 'killed' less than nine years ago, though Naruto learned that the man was more of a snake than Orochimaru, slithering back down into some underground base. Then preparing for world domination.

Loneliness was common for Naruto, and he eagerly awaited the one friend he remembered for certain he had in this life. Sakumo Hatake, Kakashi's father.

* * *

The academy was a small place on the inside. Only the hardcore shinobi clans and a few misguided civilians sent their kids there. Odd enough, all of his memories related to the academy of the past seemed to disappear. He would have to play it by ear; that was something he was beyond comfortable with, considering that he did that for the best part of sixteen years. Currently, he noticed, there were five classrooms, or so it appeared. Unlike what he was familiar with, they had students of a variety of ages, from four to thirteen, all scattered around the classrooms based on knowledge and skill. Of course, the shinobi academy was such a system that would require much debugging over the years, eventually ending up in Naruto's failure of teachings (no offense to Iruka).

Anyways, ignoring the complete emptiness of the room, Naruto wracked his brain to remember which class he was in. See, it would have been easy if he had control of his recall, but he didn't, and it was only with the important events. "Stupid time travel," he cursed under his breath.

"I think you moved classes with me," a voice said. Naruto jumped, not literally, but he was startled by the kid right behind him.

When he turned around, he saw a boy of his age wearing a distinctive black mask. _'Kakashi!_' Was his instant thought at the kid's silvery, gravity defying hair. It was only a few moments later when he remembered that he was much further back in the past.

Wait, he knew this guy. "Sakumo?"

The Hatake crinkled his eyes into reverse 'U's. "Hey Naruto! Saw that you missed school yesterday, must have been really important."

"Family issues," he replied, giving a default answer. It felt so weird to actually have family issues, even if it was just an overly honorably minded brother going on a long mission during a war.

"Eh? I thought all you Uchiha would get along. You have the same problems with never answering anything directly. I guess that just leads to more confusion... Hn..."

"You know I don't say that!" Naruto exclaimed, not knowing where the words were coming from.

"You still missed the classroom switch. And you thought you were perfect!" Naruto snorted. Just because Sakumo was the top of the class by only a few points, he never heard the end of Uchiha jokes. The kid was very humble around others, but it was a whole different world when considering his best friend.

Wait, what the hell? Was he getting more of his memory back? With way too much effort, he tried to think about the exacts of the academy, who was there, their names, but he came up completely blank. It was like some information popped up out of nowhere and was gone in a flash.

"I did not! You're stereotyping my clan."

"So you're saying they're not like that?"

"Well... No..." He hung his head down in defeat. Only he would be able to be beaten by a nine year old in a witty conversation. Still, that stereotype was a low blow.

"Then lighten up a little, don't get so defensive. We're all one big happy village!"

"Shut up," he sighed. 'One big happy village...' Almost all of his life, he felt as if he was an outcast. Now, he had a chance to belong somewhere, without the burdens he had before. It made the village feel more like a whole than a bunch of separate families.

With a shock, he noticed he was staring just past Sakumo's shoulder. "So which class are we moving to?"

"103," the white haired boy replied with another grin. He walked down the hallway, the misplaced former jinchuuriki falling behind.

His fellow academy student opened the door. "After you..."

Naruto crossed his arms. "You just don't want be noticed for being late, so I'll get all the blame then you can sneak in. It's not going to work."

"Nooooo. You're ridiculous."

"And you're not too discreet." Naruto felt so much smarter around nine year olds, even if they were the brightest of their year.

"Fine," he sighed. "You know, Kaa-san always tells me that good people would take a kunai for their friends. You know what this makes you?"

Their conversation was cut short by a loud, dangerous voice from the classroom. "It makes you late. I'd advise you to come and sit down Hatake before you make a fool of yourself. Seeing as its already too late for that, why don't you put that supposed genius of yours to work on this test?"

Naruto walked in to see the man drop a packet, maybe about ten papers thick, on the desk. Sakumo looked at the man, utter horror on his face. Reluctantly, he walked up to the front, head down, and grabbed the test, only to sit down in the back and start filling out answers. Whoever the sensei was, he was smirking slightly at the child's predicament. The rest of the class seemed to find it amusing as well; kids that were in their last year, 11 to 13 years old, couldn't help but make fun of the younger ones.

The teacher was a stone faced man, a bandana covering most of his head. He had a strict, commanding air about him, something Naruto found to be foreboding and very indicative of painful work in the future.

"And you must be the new student. Who, may I add, missed class yesterday." He had a gruff voice, like someone who didn't feel like talking after shouting commands for years. And he seemed to despise both lateness and skipping class. Joy. He tried to imagine how much worse the first twelve years of his life would have been if this man was his sensei instead of Iruka.

"Yeah. I'm U... Uchiha Naruto!" He almost slipped up already, barely catching himself before he threw an 'Uzu' at the start of his name. How was he supposed to help it that both of his last names started with a U?

"Don't miss class if you want to graduate. Unfortunately, there's an open seat next to your friend, Hatake. You can call me Sensei Morino or Isami-sensei, I could care less."

Naruto sat down next to Sakumo and nudged the working kid. He shoved Naruto back, still focused on the paperwork.

"As I was saying," their sensei continued, "summoning contracts are usually passed down through one's clan. Or they present themselves to someone that the summons find worthy. For an example of the first one, look towards the Sarutobi clan, specifically the young Hiruzen-san. They have three to four summoners for monkeys at any particular time, a contract passed down for as long as I know. With it, many members of the clan can summon the monkey families to aid them in altercations. Important ones, at least. It is vital to note that..." He saw many of the kids zoned out, twirling their pencils or practicing hand seals for no reason.

"ARE YOU LISTENING?" He shouted, standing taller in front of the class. A darkness seemed to descend on them all, even if it only lasted a moment. Fortunately for Isami, that got all of their attention.

"You kids think this is all a joke?" He accused indignantly. "The world used to be a much more violent place, and now we have a war going on too. You better toughen up and listen to me, because the day may come when you need to rely on what I say to save your life. Summons can save you from multiple bad situations, and the information I give you on a daily basis can help you from ever getting _in _one in the first place. Don't think for a second that those clan parents of your's can save you on the battlefield. If you guys don't change enough to help our village, we might as well just forfeit now."

Naruto smirked, ignoring about half of the rant, thinking about summons. Poor Gamabunta, always getting stuck in those kinds of situations. He paused his thought, wondering if Gamabunta and the others were even alive yet. Gamakichi surely wasn't, and it saddened him. The two had become great friends over the three years with Jiraiya. Gamaken, on the other hand, was fairly old (and clumsy), but he was fun to talk to outside of fighting.

Isami made eye contact with the smirking Uchiha, clearly radiating a wave of irritation. "Since this lectura isn't going the way it should, we're going to do spars today." A few of the kids without any self-preservation instict whatsoever pumped a fist at that. Even Naruto didn't want to piss this man off. 'Ibiki-san's dad?' He wondered. It would explain where the T&I interrigator got his sadism and strictness from. 'Man, that person as a father? Must have been weird.'

"Something to say, Uchiha?"

Naruto gulped. "Can we choose our partners."

"Yes." The former jinchuuriki gave the man a hopeful look, maybe not all was lost. "At the cost of a test about the known summons and strategy with summons. For the entire class. On Thursday." The words '_but that's tomorrow,'_ weren't said, as no one had the bravery to stand up to the sadistic teacher. At least they learnt far more than in the future, when Iruka would ramble on about the specifics of the Shodai Hokage's bloodline, without even mentioning fighting once.

Everyone groaned and glared at Naruto. The uneasy boy squirmed a little under the angry and annoyed gazes.

Sakumo leaned towards him, evidently not done with his test yet. "At least we can be partners, I'll finish this giant test later." Turns out, he never finished it. Nor did Isami feel like collecting and grading it, the entire thing was just punishment. Mind wracking, annoying punishment.

"Yeah, I don't want to be with those annoying jerks anyways," he whispered back.

In response, his friend muttered, jokingly, "hypocrite."

"Rrrrrg," he grunted, "more stereotypes?"

"Everyone's leaving, teme," the Hatake put in, as people were getting up and filing out of the room. "We should probably go."

"You're not funny, you know?"

"Oh I'm fully aware."

"You're way off today Naruto," Sakumo put in as he once again scored a hit to his friend's chest. Naruto wasn't used to having this little stamina after a few weeks of using Kyuubi's chakra mode. It made him feel practically invulnerable, coupled with his Uzumaki endurance, which he no longer had. This left him panting on the ground, laying on his back.

"Yeah, I'm tired today."

"It's not that," the white-haired boy shook his head. "Your form for that taijutsu style of yours is usually perfect, but you look like you're swimming through syrup right now." What a weird analogy for taijutsu, Naruto decided.

"Come again?"

"Its sloppy," he deadpanned, extending a hand. Naruto took it and hauled himself up.

Come to think of it, his body was trying to use one style while his much older mind was trying to use his former style. That probably resulted in him looking like an indecisive fool during the spar. Still, Sakumo was a genius and they both were 'technically' kids, so being beat every now and then wasn't bad. Especially if he didn't have any clue what taijutsu style he was trying to use.

"Meh, my mind's on other stuff."

"You're so weird today. Normally you just sit there and do nothing, then wait till now to talk all the time. I bet its the summoning thing he was talking about."

"What? No, why would I be thinking about summoning?" 'I need to know if I still have the contract,' he reminded himself instantaneously. "My brother's on a mission, I'm just worried."

"No, you're totally jealous of my summoning contract."

"What?!" Naruto exclaimed as the two began another round of light sparring. This time, they didn't go intense enough that they had to stop the conversation.

"The dogs, remember? Really, are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm... Fine. What do you say we take this spar up a notch?"

"Fine by me!" Sakumo exclaimed, immediately launching a roundhouse kick.

Naruto needed to focus on what he was doing. 'How do I use a style I can't remember how to do? Stupid Interceptor Fist, no one likes you.' It made him think of Madara annihilating the shinobi alliance. The cool, calm, stationary taijutsu that completely crushed every attacker.

'Focus. Clear your head; that always helped with senjutsu training.' It would come to him, he knew that. Just like how everything else was slowly integrating into his conscious memory. Just think about other things.

These thoughts all occurred nearly instantaneously as he watched the kick come at his side. The only thing was, it seemed slower than before. He stretched out his hand, quickly catching the leg before it impacted. Then, he brought an elbow down on the knee. Sakumo twisted away just in time, throwing another kick at Naruto.

Letting go of the first leg, he brushed the kick aside with the flick of his wrist. It was like he could see it in slow motion! He swept a leg heel first at his opponent's feet, making Sakumo jump in the air. Instead, Naruto kept moving with the motion, sending a punch at Sakumo's gut.

There was nothing for the Hatake to do but stop it with both hands inches from his chest. As he landed, Naruto saw a frantic kick come towards his side in an attempt for Sakumo to put some distance between the two. He smirked, he could see what would happen. In a quick motion, he ducked under the kick, Sakumo letting go of his one hand. From behind the Hatake, he placed his arm around the kid's neck.

"I win this round."

"Whoa, nice one Naruto. That was pretty good," he said as Naruto let him go.

"Heh, thanks. It was like you were in slow motion. It looks like I'm awesomer than you after all." Sakumo twisted around all the way, locking his dark eyes with Naruto's. Sakumo gasped.

"What is it?" Wondered the Uchiha.

One word was all that was needed. "Sharingan."

Naruto's now red eyes widened. This was what it was like? All of the sights so clear that he felt like he couldn't miss anything? He could see Sakumo's attacks in slow motion, but couldn't predict them. Honestly, Naruto had never taken the time to figure out the powers of the Sharingan, minus before going after Sasuke at Orochimaru's hideout. Could he cover himself with that enormous vile black chakra, just like Sasuke and Madara?

"Cool," he muttered, still dazed by the suddenness of it all. Only yesterday, he had started acclimating to his new life. Now it had changed already. How could he keep up?

He rubbed his eyes, each with two tomoe, trying his best to deactivate it. "Are my eyes back to normal?"

"Nope." Weird, Naruto was sure that his vision was back to normal. The world appeared much duller than before.

He tried again, trusting his friend. "Now?"

"No, you've still got those funky commas swirling around."

"Now?"

"You really can't do this can you?"

Wait a second. "You're totally messing with me!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at the man. That was where Kakashi got his sarcastic bastardness from... of course!

"You deserve it for not knowing if your kekkei genkai is active or not."

"I'm so going to get you back for this, Hatake!"

Suddenly, an aura of death crept up on the two of them. A set of footsteps stopped right behind the Uchiha. "Is there something going on here?" Their sense questioned in a dark voice.

"N-no, Sensei!" Sakumo stuttered out. "Nothing at all!"

Naruto turned around, fear on his face. The man raised an eyebrow, then walked away without another word. As he left, the two swore that he said, "I don't know how they're the top of the class. And at nine years too."

They book shook off the encounter, trying to focus on the present. "After this," Naruto said, "want to come back to my house and practice some jutsu?" He wanted to try that **Katon: Gōkakyū** (Fire Release: Grand Fireball) that the Uchiha was so famous for. Probably, somewhere in that messed up head of his, he knew how to do it.

"Sure, and I'll even show you my summoning contract!"

* * *

It was late at night. Naruto's brother was away, and Sakumo lived with his Uncle, who wasn't a Hatake. The man hardly cared to see where he son went anyway, but Sakumo never really mentioned much of his family life to Naruto. Hey, he realized he was getting much more of his memory back now. At least he wouldn't be a complete idiot and forget something as important as the Hatake clan's summoning contract with the dogs again.

The worst part of his day was discovering that he forgot his lunch, and that Ichiraku's didn't exist yet. He ha to go home during the short lunch, buy some instant ramen, and return to class, only to be late again. After that grueling day, he went back home only to shower, get dressed in another outfit of the same lame Uchiha clothes, and look at his Sharingan in the mirror. As he did so, two tomoe would spin, his eyes would turn black, then red, then the tomoe would spin again whenever he moved his head quickly. Quite a mesmerizing thing, to be honest.

He had a lame dinner, more instant ramen. He swore that there was such a thing as 'Ichiraku withdrawal.' Afterwards, Sakumo decided to grace the Uchiha compound with his presence. Since he was more of a regular than most, and regarded as the next genius of his generation, the guards were perfectly content with letting him in. Honestly, the Hatake boy kept trying to reason with people (not the guards) that he was no better than others, just seemed good on paper. It didn't work. There appeared to be only a small tolerance for modesty in the shinobi world, where arrogance ruled far too many decisions.

It was about seven when Sakumo had finally made it to Kagami's and Naruto's modest house. The raven haired boy was in the small training area behind the house, practicing **Katon: ****Gōkakyū** no jutsu on innocent trees. While he didn't remember the hand seals if he thought hard about it, he could do the right sequence if he blocked out any effort to do it consciously

"The trees are probably all dead now," Sakumo pointed out.

"They're fine," Naruto replied with an unseen roll of his eyes. **"Katon: ****Gōkakyū no jutsu!"** Once again, a normal sized fireball, about two Narutos in height, raced towards the trees. It crashed into them, continuing for another twenty feet before running out of steam, leaving more blackened trees. They were probably going to survive. Actually, he amended, they _will _survive, since Hashirama kept every plant alive by some miracle of his Mokuton.

"You think that's cool? **Doton: Doryūheki!"** (Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall) After making four seals and slamming his hands on the ground, a six foot high wall rose out, just big enough to protect from one of Naruto's fireballs. The Hatake was panting a little, wiping some sweat off his brow from the chakra exertion.

"What?! Where did you learn a B-rank jutsu already?" Naruto asked, astounded. Not only at Sakumo's achievement, which was amazing for any academy student, but that he knew it was a B-rank jutsu. Useless facts like that had recently been popping into his head without warning.

Sakumo held up a finger, smirking. "Secrets, secrets. My clan's got some scrolls for Doton, much like you have hundreds of fools breathing fire every day to teach you that."

"We aren't fools," Naruto shot back. "Okay, _maybe_ a good number of my clan are arrogant fools. Happy?"

He nodded. "Very."

"Aren't you going to summon something?"

Sakumo crossed his arms in a childlike fashion. "Prepare to be amazed!" He bit his thumb, drawing blood, then began the sequence aloud, "boar, dog, bird, monkey, ram. **Kuchiyose no jutsu!"** (Summoning Technique) There was a huge puff of smoke where the white-haired boy slammed his hand on the ground. As he backed up, a satisfied grin spread across his face.

A small pug with tan fur was revealed from under the smoke. He had a blue vest and a blue band with Konoha's Hita-ate on the top of his small head. He even had floppy ears, just like how Naruto remembered Pakkun. "Sup," the dog said, raising his right paw in a wave.

Sakumo put his head in his hands. "I really wanted a bigger dog..."

Naruto patted him on the shoulder. "It was your first try today, at least you summoned something that can speak."

"Oi!" The pug spoke up, looking up at the two humans, "I feel like I'm being overlooked here!"

"Oh, sorry," Sakumo apologized quickly, giving an eye smile. "What's your name?

"Saka," he replied.

"Ehh," the Hatake sighed. "You dogs all have weird names."

Saka sat down on his hind legs. "Ninken, I'm a ninken. Specialized tracker, not just a dog."

Sakumo didn't seem too interested. "Oh well. I guess I can summon you later, see ya."

"This was lame," the dog, _ninken_, replied, standing up and waving again. "Bye," he said, bored, before he disappeared in a poof.

Naruto yawned, he was bored too. "The pug was right, you're pretty lame, too lame to live up to your reputation as a genius." His friend tried to protest, but the Uchiha cut him short. "It's my turn, and I'm definitely going to do something with style."

"Style?"

"Well, something impulsive and dumb." He bit his thumb and drew blood.

"I don't like where this is going. You know, Isami did end up telling us to never summon without a contract if you weren't listening."

"What's the worst that could happen?" Naruto replied with a smirk. This was more along the lines of something he'd have done in the good old days of the past. No thinking, just acting, and hopefully things worked themselves out. See, the great part about his perseverance is that he always tried to make things work out. Whether it was destroying Neji's love of fate or extracting the Juubi from Obito, he gave 120 percent.

Things always turned out well in the past (future?), so why not now?

He ran through the seals, then slammed his hand on the ground. "Watch this. **Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"**

A huge plume of smoke covered the boy. When it all cleared, the Uchiha was gone.

* * *

**A/N: Nothing much happened this chapter, just some characterization and setting the scene. Next, we'll find out what the hell happened to him and go through graduation. Team formations, whoohoo! To point out, Sakumo could in fact be this age, it works out fine with the cannon timeline. PS- I'm not trying to make Naruto ridiculously overpowered, don't worry. ****Thanks for staying on the story! Don't forget to review with opinions, thoughts, or ideas!**

**Here's the timeline again:**

**Year Event**

**0- Konoha founded, Hashirama elected as Hokage over Madara**

**2- Academy and ninja ranking system fully established.**

**3- Kagami, Hiruzen, Danzo... ect born**

**4- Other villages begin to be established**

**7- First Kage summit is called.**

**8- Hashirama deals out Bijuu as a peace offering to other villages**

**10 (early spring)- Madara leaves village**

**10 (October 10)- Naruto born**

**11- Hiruzen, Homura, Koharu graduate (age 8). Team under Tobirama and Hashirama**

**12- Kagami, Danzo, and Torifu Akimichi graduate (age 9). Subordinates, kind of a team, under Tobirama**

**12 (later)- Hiruzen's team all receive chuunin promotions (no chuunin Exams yet)**

**13- Madara returns with the Kyuubi but is defeated (assumed dead). Mito becomes the first jinchuuriki**

**14- Kagami's team all receive chuunin promotions**

**15- Hiruzen becomes a jounin**

**16- Tobirama becomes the Nidaime Hokage. Hashirama is noticeably weakened from fight with Madara .**

**18 (early)- First Shinobi War begins**

**18 (late)- Kagami's mother dies.**

**19- Naruto arrives from the future. Sakumo is age 9; both he and Naruto are set to graduate in a year.**

**59- Cannon begins**

**Jiraiya out**


End file.
